Afterlife - Essay
Cody Roberts
Waugh
The Seventh Seal
4/15/11
Afterlife
Death is unexplainable. It happens to everyone, everything, and its uncontrollable. Because of this, many have their own interpretations of death. In Ingmar Bergman’s movie, The Seventh Seal, death is portrayed to be deceitful and humorous. The film also reveals that the nature of death is irrelevant to our expectations.
Since death is inevitable, deceitfulness is certain. At the beginning of the movie, the Knight talks Death into a game of chess to prolong his life and even have the chance to escape death all together. Throughout the film, the Knight and Death proceed with their game when time is found between the two. At one point away from their match, the Knight goes to a church searching for answers from God and sees a priest at a confession window. The Knight goes to ask the priest for answers and admits that he is playing a game of chess with Death. He then foolishly confesses his strategy to win his chess match, only to find out that Death was actually the priest. Death then tells the Knight, “I’ll remember that,” as he disappears with a smirk and the Knight’s strategy to win the game. This is not the only time that Death used his dishonesty and trickery to make sure his job was complete to take people’s lives though. Another instance in the movie is where a witch is going to be burned. She is seen throughout the story as being possessed by the devil and being avoided by everyone except for the soldiers, paid to transport her to the burning. When she is in the final minutes of her life, the knight asks the soldiers the answer of why her hands were crushed and why she is being burned. The soldiers then answered him, “Ask the monk.” As the Knight turned around to see who the monk was, he saw Death dressed in his dark cloak with a grin on his face knowing he has fooled the soldiers into believing he was a monk, and that the witch must die. Just these two instances show death’s
Waugh
The Seventh Seal
4/15/11
Afterlife
Death is unexplainable. It happens to everyone, everything, and its uncontrollable. Because of this, many have their own interpretations of death. In Ingmar Bergman’s movie, The Seventh Seal, death is portrayed to be deceitful and humorous. The film also reveals that the nature of death is irrelevant to our expectations.
Since death is inevitable, deceitfulness is certain. At the beginning of the movie, the Knight talks Death into a game of chess to prolong his life and even have the chance to escape death all together. Throughout the film, the Knight and Death proceed with their game when time is found between the two. At one point away from their match, the Knight goes to a church searching for answers from God and sees a priest at a confession window. The Knight goes to ask the priest for answers and admits that he is playing a game of chess with Death. He then foolishly confesses his strategy to win his chess match, only to find out that Death was actually the priest. Death then tells the Knight, “I’ll remember that,” as he disappears with a smirk and the Knight’s strategy to win the game. This is not the only time that Death used his dishonesty and trickery to make sure his job was complete to take people’s lives though. Another instance in the movie is where a witch is going to be burned. She is seen throughout the story as being possessed by the devil and being avoided by everyone except for the soldiers, paid to transport her to the burning. When she is in the final minutes of her life, the knight asks the soldiers the answer of why her hands were crushed and why she is being burned. The soldiers then answered him, “Ask the monk.” As the Knight turned around to see who the monk was, he saw Death dressed in his dark cloak with a grin on his face knowing he has fooled the soldiers into believing he was a monk, and that the witch must die. Just these two instances show death’s